TEHRAN - China’s Iranian crude oil imports in April rose to their highest level since August, Reuters reported, citing Refinitiv data.

As reported, Chinese refineries shipped in 24 million barrels or about 800,000 bpd of Iranian crude oil in the mentioned month.

China, the world’s biggest oil importer, took in 164.9 million tons of crude during the first four months of 2019, or about 10.03 million bpd, up 8.9 percent on the same period a year earlier, according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

According to Wang Zhao, head of crude oil research at Sublime China Information Company, the rises come as refiners pre-stocked supplies in anticipation of the impact of U.S. sanctions.

Chinese Commerce Ministry on Thursday announced the country’s opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran, saying that cutting Iranian oil supplies will only worsen volatility in global energy markets.

Earlier in April, Washington announced that it will no longer grant waivers for buyers of Iranian oil to continue imports from Iran.

China is Iran’s largest oil customer with imports of 475,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of this year, according to Chinese customs data.
EF/MA